Drinking Away The Deficit

September 25, 1985|The Morning Call

Commited tipplers don't need an excuse to tipple. Pre-anniversaries, anniversaries, post-anniversaries - theirs or yours, friend or enemy, all are treated equally under the tippler's law when it comes to declaring, "Bottoms up!"

Now, Uncle Sam has given the dedicated imbiber a patriotic excuse to raise a glass to uncle's health - drink, says the government, to reduce the federal deficit.

This admonition comes in the form of an edict called the Deficit Reduction Act. Adopted last year by a Congress which can imbibe at less cost than most Americans - hard liquor in the District of Columbia is seductively priced - the act puts a $2-a-gallon hike on the hard stuff.

The price rise goes into effect Tuesday and is expected to make Uncle Sam $149 million richer this year. What he will do with this windfall is uncertain, although the declared purpose of the added revenue is to help reduce the $200-billion deficit. What should concern the drafters of this soak-the-old-soak legislation is that according to a survey by UPI a great many old soaks are lining up at their favorite dispensary to buy in large quantities of the pre-tax hard stuff against that day when they will have to pay top dollar for the privilege - unless, of course, they can afford to travel to Washington to buy drink at congressional cut-rate prices.